I’m always dismayed when beginning writers decide to take a class on “Journaling.” (A term I hate almost as much as “blogging.”) I’m even more dismayed, when accomplished writers in a workshop situation spend more than a half hour on the matter— even worse, attempt to teach a complete course on the journal or notebook.

To me, “How to Write a Journal” is akin to “How to Walk.”

“Born writers” (and artists) instinctively move toward recording impressions and ideas they sense will be of future importance in their work. They are either forever looking for scraps of paper and a pencil/pen to ‘take note’ or religiously carry with them (in pockets, purses, portfolios, glove compartments, etc.) the tools of their trade to mark the moment in a meaningful way.

No one should have to be taught how to do this or told what to record.

Odd things, like a button drawer. Mean
Things, fishhooks, barbs in your hand.
But marbles too. A genius for being agreeable.
Junkyard crucifixes, voluptuous
discards. Space for knickknacks, and for
Alaska. Evidence to hang me, or to beatify.
Clues that lead nowhere, that never connected
anyway. Deliberate obfuscation, the kind
that takes genius. Chasms in character.
Loud omissions. Mornings that yawn above
a new grave. Pages you know exist
but you can’t find them. Someone’s terribly
inevitable life story, maybe mine.

other Norbert Blei web pages

Please click the arrow to see the complete list of writers on Poetry Dispatch & other Notes from the Underground, then click a writers name to see all entries. The number next to the writers name indicates how many postings belong to this category.

Please click the arrow to see the complete list of writers on Poetry Dispatch & other Notes from the Underground, then click a writers name to see all entries. The number next to the writers name indicates how many postings belong to this category.

The coop has flown

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Norbert Blei | 1935 – 2013

On the back roads of Door County again

Norbert Blei – 2012

Photo by Bobbie Krinsky

Norbert Blei – 2012

Photo by Jeffrey Winke

Norbert Blei – 2011

Photo by Sharon Auberle

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